Afterlife of the Colossus
by Empyrisan
Summary: When Wander awakens in the Shrine of Worship, he finds himself being pursued by a group of angry colossi...the very beasts he thought he destroyed to bring back Mono's soul. The young warrior has a lot of explaining to do with the massive creatures...
1. The Great Chase

A Shadow of the Colossus fanfic, depicting what if Wanderer and the colossi weren't really gone...and the giant creatures had a certain problem to resolve, concerning the very human who took out their lives in order to revive the lost soul he loved...

Warning: May contain spoilers to the game.

Enjoy!**

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**Chapter One**

**The Great Chase**

_A calm gust of wind blew ever so gently within the hidden garden of the great tower, the Shrine of Worship. Mono, with the very young, bare child in her cradling arms, walked over to the ledge of the garden that over looked the forbidden land that she was so unfamilar with. Her eyes gazed upon the vast landscape, the sky shrouded with a blanket of clouds...and sixteen, narrow rays of light beaming down from the heaves above. After one sight, the young maiden went on a small quest around each open balcony to count them all, and scattered across the land, they were. She remained in the garden with her lost lover's ebony stallion, Agro. Wherever did Wanderer go? She thought and questioned countless times, but they were never answered..._

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Foggy did his vision appeared to be as Wanderer slowly opened his tired eyes, groaning as if all the strength from his body had just recently been sucked out by an overbearing force. It was wet all around him; he had been sleeping in the pool of water of which he last remembered to be the powerful light that effortlessly pulled him within it. He struggled to balance himself onto his legs. The pain from his left leg was gone and so was the arrow that shot him. His spine felt rigid and as if it was pulled in two different directions. He arched back, hearing and feeling his back bones cracking multiple times and shooked his numb shoulders. Wanderer then realized it was very quiet...not like before how he remembered it. The absence of sounds of Agro's running hoofbeats frightened him in an unusual way. He turned his head around to look at his surroundings. The spiraling staircase remained, but no Agro.

He walked out of the pool, making his way into the spacious hallway of where the colossus statues had once crumbled to pieces one by one as he took down each corresponding beast. But now, every idol, all sixteen of them had returned to their original state, intact and with stone eyes glaring onwards upon him without a blink. "I thought I destroyed all of the colossi...and their statues should be eliminated as well..." Wanderer said to himself as he walked down toward the end of the hallway where the intricate altar stood, blinding light shining from between each column from the balcony that overlooked the mountains that contained the memories of his first battle with a colossus. But what caught Wanderer by surprise was that Mono no longer rested on the platform where he last laid her. He ran up to the altar, tripping as he hurried up the stairs. He haulted to a rough stop, his hands on the cold platform. Half-clenched fist, Wanderer stood there in silence for a moment. Mono was gone and he had no idea where she was, same with Agro.

The cold silence was starting to get to him. Never had he felt this isolated. Fighting the colossi, even though he had journeyed across the forbidden land after each one as an enemy, always provided some sort of unusual company in hidden ways...just a little. He yelled out, "Agro!" His voice echoed throughout the building.

No reply. No poundings of hooves against the stone floors or friendly whinnies to give out the message that his faithful steed was around.

"Agro!" he yelled louder this time, but still no reply. He brought his fingers to his mouth, each digit arranged blowed on them to allow a loud whistle to echo within the vast shrine. Agro always answered this call, but that changed when the ebony stallion never showed up.

But instead of hoofbeats, a thunderous footstep answered, shaking the stone floor. A deep, lion-like growl proceeded afterwards and Wanderer stood still, cold sweat running down his neck. He spuned around at the risk to see what it was that responded, facing the entrance of the hallway and where he awakened from the pool. It was deathly dark over there and the growls continued to ascend from the shadows. Slowly, a face emerged from the darkness and into the light, bearing two blue, reflective orbs of eyes and a stone-carved mane.

Wanderer took good look at it and it suddenly strucked him in the head; it was fourteenth colossus he thought he destroyed within the ruines it resided for many years...until now. The lion colossus, step by step, marched towards him. His intricate, stone armor, now revived to its original condition, shook with his massive weight. Another colossus appeared, taking great similarity to the lion-like beast in both size and shape, save for the two pointed, horns protuding from its cheeks. It, too, growled at Wanderer and marched towards him, shaking the floor with each heavy step. The young warrior then recognized it to be the eleventh tiger colossus that roamed within the valley underneath the great bridge he walked upon to get to the enterance of the Shrine of Worship.

The warrior reached his right hand to retrieve the Ancient Sword from its sheath...but was shocked to find it nowhere among his person. He then reached his hand over to his backside to pull out his bow and arrows...but they too were missing. His eyes went wide at that fact that he was now weaponless in facing, not one, but two colossi at once and they were able to keep their stony, clawed paws! With no other option he headed straight to the open balcony for a quick escape and jumped off the ledge, landing on his feet but then falling on his bottom when he lost balance he thought he once had. But waiting for him outside was a towering minotaur colossus, the first creature he fought in his quest to revive Mono. The great beast with glowing, fiery eyes that stood out from his dark expression looked down upon the tiny human at his feet. He lifted his giant, right hoofed foot well above Wanderer, preparing to crush him under his ponderous weight. But the human rolled himself out of the way, the hoof crashing down into the ground next to his body and sending him flying several feet away.

Scurrying to his feet, Wanderer made haste towards the earthly bridge that overlooked the second colossus's domain. _Where are they coming from?! How are they still alive?_ he thought to himself. He looked back as he ran along the left side of the shrine, catching sight of the rumbling minotaur and the two charging, big cat colossi. They were gaining up on him with exceptional acceleration, especially the lion creature. And when he thought he had encountered enough of them already at once, two more appeared from around the corner; the fourth horse colossus and the sixth long-bearded colossus. Wanderer haulted to a swift stop when the horse colossus raised its elongated, pointed left leg, ready to bring it down to crush him deep into the earth. But he then dashed into a run again, causing the mammoth statue to miss him. He continued to make his way toward the bridge, running underneath the equine creature as it tried to lift its leg from the ground while the two smaller colossi were still pursuing him.

The bearded colossus attempted to stop Wanderer by slamming down his right fist in his way. The human bumped into the giant hand and fell backwards. He looked up at the beast, whom glared back at him with burning, deep-set eyes. Pounding footsteps got louder by the second as Wanderer turned his head around to find the lion colossus just mere seconds away from charging right into him! He jumped onto the bearded colossus's wrist in time to dodge the smaller, rampaging creature, whom butted itself into the massive hand. The bipedal creature yelped with pain, withdrawing his hand from the ground and shook it with Wander grasping the fur on it to keep from falling off. The bearded behemoth brought his hand up to his face, peering at the tiny specimen that had latched himself onto his hand. The great beast tried to shake him off while the lion beast leaped about with deep growls, seeming to want a turn at attacking their little target.

Watching the lion colossus walk in an endless circle on the ground, Wander waited patiently for the right time when the agressive beast would be underneath him. When the colossus had its back to him, he jumped off the other creature's hand and landed onto the rough, stone surface of the lion beast and took a good grip onto its stiff mane. The stone lion roared with fustration, shaking its body before it dashed into a run towards Wanderer's desired destinaton, the bridge, while trying to buck him off its backside. _This should be easy..._thought the young warrior as lion kept on sprinting towards the earth-made crossing, along with the four other colossi following the two afterward. He was now forty feet away from the bridge and the lion was still determined on trying to shake him off, but no avail at the moment. Wanderer was riding him like a mere bull.

Wander was now trying to steer the wild beast across the terrain, turning its head left to right so make it run in the corresponding direction. The tiger colossus sprinted close behind the two, soon running side by side with its comrade. It growled at Wander, trying to swipe him with one of its powerful paws numerous times, but kept on missing him. The lion colossus growled fiercely at its unwanted rider and bucked uncontrollably, unware that it was heading straight into one of the large, tilting staues that stood at the enterance of the earthly bridge. Just before it collided into the fictiled structure, Wander jumped off into the air and finally landed on the narrow, earthen landform and made a run for it.

The lion colossus, heavily dazed and exhausted, fell to the ground with a mild tremor while the tiger colossus kept on pursuing the fleeing human, along with the three taller behemoths following behind. But the those three colossi could no longer continue to chase Wander. The slim bridge was far too small for them to cross it, let alone support each of them at a time. However, it did not deter the tiger colossus from catching their target, despite the difficulties of crossing the elevated structure without falling off into the deep lake below it.

The young warrior felt he now had an advantage over the colossi while on the bridge. He now had to think of a scheme to get rid of the tiger beast, but that idea faded away when Wander saw, yet, four more colossi waiting for him at the other end of the bridge, all with glowing blue eyes. The first was a tall, lanky fellow with a hourglass-shaped waist; the third colossus. The second was an earthy, turtle-like beast with long legs that supported its massive weight. The third colossus was a large salamander beast with fire glowing from underneath its large backside scales, and the fourth one was a bulky, bipedal brute, taking similarity to the minotaur and the bearded statues. Wanderer paused in his tracks, realizing that he was now trapped on a bridge by a group of mountainous creatures he thought he vanquished not too long ago. He spun around to see the tiger colossus approaching him with a slow, steady pace with the lion beast close behind. Wanderer took steps back as the two living, big cat gargoyles growled at him with heated anger, but he then took a step too far...and slipped off the ledge of the bridge, plunging into the frigid lake below.The lion and the tiger colossi looked down from the strip of earth to see a small splash at the bottom and dashed away to another path to reach the bottom shore.

For a moment, Wanderer had forgotten how to swim and began frantically rotating his arms in the water, making noisy sounds to summon an unwanted basilisk. From underneath him, he felt a patch of soft, wavy grass on his legs and grabbed onto them with his tired hands when they began to brutally surface the water. A great splash arose and revealed a far greater specimen with horns glowing a faint blue at its tips. Wanderer recalled it to be the twelth colossus that submerged its underwater and remained hidden above the waterfall until he arrived to destroy it. The immense brute tossed his head around, enough to send the tiny human flying twenty feet to the right and splashing back into the lake. The creature turned about slowly and began to approach him. Fatigued, Wander struggled to escape the creature, but another surfaced the water with the young warrior lying down exhausted on its dragonish snout. The serpent colossus glared at him with unforgiving eyes and tossed him ashore with a grinding landing.

Wander strived to get back on his feet, but no use. He felt his worn-out muscles tearing apart underneath his dirty, pale skin and every inch of his bones begining to crack. The earth below his body shook violently as a giant, bull behemoth approach him with unwieldly density. It stopped in its tracks once it was close enough, peering down the tiny body on the sand while another creature, a serpentine beast, arose from the ground with two wide, ancient and ignited eyes that too scowled at Wanderer.

"It's just a dream..." Wanderer murmured to himself as he, drenched in water, laid on the soft sand, "It's just a bad dream. They're are not real..."

From out of the sky, two tremendous colossi soared overhead, kicking up a windstorm around the area. One was an avian creature with a long tail that trailed behind. It screech as it spotted the human and dived down to the ground, making an elegant landing next to the bull and the sand serpent beasts. The other flying monster had an extremely lengthy body that snaked in a great circle above all the other creatures. Wander's vision got foggy again as he beheld the majestic colossi that surrounded him and blocked all exits of escape. Another hit from them and it could all over for him. It just seems to him that these creations of earth were merely going to make a toy out of him...each obtaining their satisfaction of revenge of taking his life that they may prove unworthy to live...


	2. Redemption

Second chapter is up! This one took a while to complete, much longer than I expected. And this a long chapter, probably the longest I have typed up yet.

Enjoy!**

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**Chapter Two**

**Redemption**

It had been just a mere moment since Wander had shut his eyes, hoping the giant creatures would go away but apparently, that wasn't going to happen just yet. He could still hear their angry growls, grunts and screeches sounding off from all different directions. He dared not open his eyes, knowing that the colossi would be glaring back at him all at once. It would be a terrifying sight indeed, but in a few seconds, he had worked up the last of his nerves to take at least a peek. Before him was the sand creature with the massive, pincer-like jaws with orange-yellow light gleaming from the small gaps. It didn't bother to do anything to Wander yet, except look at him with one of its large eyes. Wander finally opened both of his own eyes, his vision becoming clearer as he slowly stood up...but then he saw the lion colossus charging straight at him with full speed. Wander screamed and fell backwards on his tailbone as he thought the beast was going to ram him, but instead, it skidded to a stop right in front of him with its stony muzzle to the his face.

"YOU!!" the lion colossus barked to him with intense fury, "Why were you still in the Shrine of Worship?! What were you doing there?! Are you going to kill us all again?!"

Wander was speechless. Not only could he answer the questions in time, but also the large gargoyle spoke to him in his native language. He tried to speak, but his words were stuck on his tongue.

"Let's stab him in the head and spine with a sharp, metal stick and see how HE likes it!!" said the bulky, sentinel colossus with a deep, gravelly voice from at the top of the ravine, whom Wander remembered as his fifteenth opponent. Some of the other colossi agreed with him, roaring loudly as if in a great, simultaneous battlecry. They stomped their feet onto the earth, causing earthquakes to rattle across the land recklessly, and snorted enough as if the steam from their noses could start a thick fog in the canyon below them.

"Where's your shiny stick, little Wanderer?" the lion beast mocked the smaller creature before him, "And your other useless weapons!" It growled again, wishing it could open its stone muzzle to rip Wander apart.

"Everyone, that is enough!" snapped the avian colossus with a firm, feminine voice, whom with semi-folded, earthy wings began to approach Wander and the lion colossus. Every other colossus settled down a bit, breaking down to whispers as Avion looked down at the lion creature. "Cenobia, throwing such mockery to a human will not help neither of us!" She was a larger colossus compared to the lion, and likely a wiser one at that.

"But Avion, you know very well what this shameless, little monster has done to us!" Cenobia snapped back at the avian and casted a sharp glance at Wander, "As punishment, he should be forced to suffer our pain! Experience what it was like to be taken down and be consumed by darkness!" He pawed the sand fiercely, using his right front foot to make mounds of it piled up as he did so.

Avion scowled at him. As much as she hate to admit it, she felt that the human should face such as a consequence, but all of that was behind them all now. She understood that and not much can be done about it, but Cenobia was too stubborn to face the facts. Revenge was something colossi should not know of.

"And he did face the same fate as we all did..." the sand colossus, Dirge, spoke with a deep, vibrating and raspy voice. Wander turned his head to look at it while larger, blue eyes looked back at him. "You should know that was part of the deal Dormin made with the human...that if we were all to be destroyed by the Wanderer with the Ancient Sword to aid him, Dormin will be ressurected, but our murderer would take death the same way as we all took it..."

Cenobia scowled at the elderly colossus, looking away afterward and mumbled to himself before replying, "That doesn't explain _why_ he killed us off! What did _he_ get in return? And can't we punish him in another way?"

"It's always revenge with you, Cenobia. We can find a way how the human can redeem himself, but an explination on why he went about on such a long journey to get rid of us would be nice..." Avion replied, turning her sleek face to look down upon Wander.

"W-wait! Hold on. Where am I? And why are you all alive?" Wander asked Avion as he stood up, "I thought I have slain you all..." If it was possible, they have probably risen from the dead to get revenge on him. Or, they weren't really dead and just slipped into a deep comma until then.

"This is the afterlife, Wanderer," Dirge answered, his voice making mild earthquakes as he spoke, "Part of our souls exist within this world now, including yours. The other part of each of us have been reincarnated into another form..."

"There! You have your answer!" barked Cenobia, interrupting Dirge, "Now tell us what you asked of Dormin if you freed Them and why you went about the Forbidden Lands to slay us!"

Hesistan, he tried to gather his memories before he would tell the story. "My love, Mono...she was sacrificed because she was believed to have a cursed fate..." Wander began, his voice was a little shaky, "I stole the Ancient Sword and, with Mono's body, traveled far to reach the Forbidden Lands. I asked Dormin to return her soul from the dead, but first, They asked me to destroyed each and every one of you before They would bring Mono back to life..."

"Dormin merely used you!" Cenobia snapped fiercely at Wander, pawing the sand with his foot, "You were just Their tool so that They could be ressurrected and wreak havoc upon the lands! What made you _think_ They would bring life back to this Mono?!"

"Cenobia! That's enough!" said the tiger colossus, Celosia, with a more feminine tone of voice than the lion colossus. She walked up beside her brother, who snorted at her. "Must you really be so thick-headed?"

"And what about us?!" Cenobia continued, ignoring his sister's reply, "Have you not had a thought about us colossi and how we would have felt about being slayed just so you could bring just ONE of you humans back from the bloody---"

"I did it because I loved her!" Wander snapped at the lion, who stayed quiet to listen to him speak, "After she was gone, my only purpose for living was to bring her back from death that she did not deserve! And I wouldn't let _anyone _get in my way from saving her! What did you have to live for, aside from to exist as one of the sixteen seals that contained the essence of Dormin?"

Cenobia only stood there in silence and looked away from Wander, feeling a tint of guilt growing inside him. But tried to shrug it off and look up at Avion with a stern expression. "Well, what now? And what do we do with the human? He can't just be aimlessly wandering about this forsaken land with nothing to do!"

Avion thought for a moment at what Cenobia said before speaking to two of her fellow colossi. "Dirge and Quadratus, I would like a word with you two..." she chirped to them. Dirge snaked through the sand and up to near Avion's talons as Quadratus lowered his his bulky head to listen to what the avian colossus had to say. As they approached, she whispered to them from her stone beak a murmur of words that were unaudible to anyone outside their conversation.

Cenobia walked in circles on the sand, impatiently waiting for the three conciling giants to finish discussing the situation. Celosia watching her brother and then casted a slow glance at the young warrior, who looked away as soon as her blue eyes meet his own weary ones. The other colossi began a conversation of their own, murmuring to each other about Wander. Some had pounded the ground or growled loudy; a undoubtful sign of outrage. Wander gulped.

It was then that moments later, Avion turned away from Dirge and Quadratus and looked at each and every one of her fellow colossi that have gathered at the giant bull's canyon. The other colossi looked back as her as a sign that the avian colossus had obtained their attention. "Everyone, listen well..." she began, speaking as loudly as she could for every colossus to hear, "The many you may be angered by the actions of what this human did to each you and that is understandable, but revenge should not consume us so. However, what he did to us will not dropped just yet. In order to redeem himself, Wanderer will perform a task for each of you, whatever it is, at your domain. He will visit you in the same order he killed us in..."

The colossi exchanged looks with one another, ideas hatched and some were a bit confused. Cenobia sneered to himself at what Avion had just said, a plan already settled for Wander.

"One last thing that is asked of everyone of you...including you, Wanderer," Avion spoke up again, catching the attention of the behemoths, "No one is to kill Wander and he will do the same for you! Am I clear?"

The great creatures murmured about it to one another, deciding carefully. Surely, the many of them had ideas of their own of how to deal with the human and Avion's suggestion seemed to match their's. A moment past and they all agreed in the end without rampage, much to Avion's surprise.

"Return to your domains for now and await Wanderer," Avion called out before the colossi began to seperate and journey back to their designated homes, heavy footsteps, loud growls, and even splashes from the two water colossi sounded off across the canyon. Avion then looked down at the two sibling colossi before her and said, "Cenobia and Celosia, you two are to keep a close watch on Wanderer. Make sure he performs his duties, doesn't run off, and that he is in good condition throughout this task. Take as much time as you need to get from one colossus to another and take care..."

"Will do, Avion," Celosia agreed politely. Avion could always trust the tiger colossus, for she always kept true to her word.

"Great...I went from Destruction Luster to a human's caretaker in less than a day," Cenobia growled, glaring at Wander.

The avian casted a stern glance at him, not too sure about the lion colossus. She began to take flight into the air, but Quadratus stopped her short.

"What about Malus?" asked the giant bull, feeling that one last thing had to be discussed, "Should he be informed of this?"

"He should, but it might cause a lot of problems. I think it's best to keep him in the dark until then..." Avion replied before she took off into the air, leaving great gusts of wind that kicked up a mild sandstorm. Once all of the colossi have left the area, except for Quadratus who was heading into his cave to rest, the canyon became somewhat quiet. Even the giant bull's ponderous footsteps didn't seem to break the silence.

"Well, c'mon!" Cenobia growled rudely at Wander, not at all pleased to be stuck with him, "No time to waste! Valus is waiting and so are the other colossi!" The lion colossus marched his way toward the path that run upward along the walls of Quadratus' domain and linked itself with the earthy bridge.

Celosia glowered at her stubborn brother, for she, on the otherhand, wasn't pleased with his attitude toward Wanderer. She knew what this small creature had done to her and her fellow colossi neighbors, but she was confident that he will be able to repay them...with a little "encouragement" to help him along the way. She then turned her masked face to look at Wander. Tired from trying to flee from the giant creatures, he was at the brink of losing all his strength again. He struggled to walk, trying to put one foot before the other but he kept on tumbling back onto the wet sand. She felt little sorry for him.

"C'mon!" Cenobia bellowed to them, "Move quicker!"

"Cenobia, hold on!" the tiger colossus snapped at him, "Even in the afterlife, humans are still prone to exhaustion. They're not built like us!" She drew near the struggling Wander, standing in front of him. Panting, Wander looked up once he noticed a vast shadow covering his body, finding Celosia looking at him with crystal blue eyes. "Climb on my back," she said sternly. Wander steadily rose upon his feet, a bit shocked this. The last time he rode on her back, she tried to buck him off so she could slash him with her paws. But he followed her directions anyway and climbed onto her stone-armored back, grabbing hold of the protruding structures on her neck tightly. "I don't like you yet, so you better hang on tight," she demanded as she dashed after Cenobia with Wander on her back.

As the lion headed forward up the earthy ramp that protruded from the side of the canyon, he looked back to find his sister riding up behind and slowed to a walk once she was side by side with him. Cenobia then noticed Wander on her back and snorted angrily, shaking his intricately carved, solid mane. "How ignoble of you, Celosia, to allow a human to ride upon your back as if you were a tamed steed!"

Celosia growled, "Be quiet, you brute! Now is not the time!" She definately wasn't in the mood to start a foolish, unwanted conflict, especially with her brother.

Cenobia merely snarled in response and remained quiet along their way up the canyon wall and to cross the bridge to meet with Valus who waited patiently at the left side. The mountainous beast stood silently at the other end, watching the two smaller colossi approach him with the young warrior on one of their backs. Valus appeared to scowl at the human, likely upset with him.

"Valus, we have brought you the Wanderer!" Cenobia called up to the minotaur, waiting for an answer.

Valus only looked down at them, especially Wander. His glowing eyes pierced at the human, breathing ever so steadily as he continued staring. Wander gulped, knowing the colossus was not at all happy with him at the moment. Visions flowed through his head as he imagined himself being crushed under the ponderous mass of the minotaur's thick, massive hammer of a weapon.

"Come..." Valus finally replied with a very deep and slow voice, turning about his great body around and headed toward his domain in the sunbathed mountains. Each step was slow-going and like an earthquake, sending shivers up Wander's spine. Cenobia and Celosia followed their fellow colossus behind, taking the warrior with them.

It seemed like forever to Cenobia that they have been walking, following the massive behemoth, but they were now just starting to pass the Shrine of Worship. The lion colossus was starting to get irritated by Valus' lack of speed. Mumbling growls escaped his jaws as he wished the giant minotaur would move quicker to his domain and get it over with, and he was rather annoyed by Celosia's patient nature towards the situation as well.

Wander looked up at Valus, wondering what sort of punishment this creature might have waiting for him. Valus didn't really seem all that aggressive or vengeful at the moment, not like how he found him to be since they first encountered. It wasn't much of a fair fight because the colossus didn't know that he was going up against a warrior who wielded a sword that pin-pointed where his weakspot resided. The minotaur hadn't said a word since they left the bridge, nor did he look back to check if they were still following him. His silent disposition managed to attract a flock of birds that flew around him like as if he was their santuary. A couple birds landed on his heavily thick, raw umber-colored furred shoulder, nestling down on the warmth provided by the heat of his body. But some birds flew straight through his mass, continuing foward like nothing had happen. Wander was taken by surprise, but he remembered that he, the colossi, and some of the animals were in the afterlife and that, though they could see the living creatures, the living could not see them in return.

The young warrior felt quite ashamed of himself for a moment, giving some thought for Valus. Who was he to take him down, along with all of these magnificent and immense creatures of the earth, whom all have lived for hundred of years until their fate was sealed by the arrival of the young slayer. _Was it worth it? _And then he thought..._Mono_. Out of nowhere, the colossi heard Wander ask, "Mono...did she awaken? Where did she go? Dormin promised They would revive her if I slayed you all..."

The colossi stopped in their tracks to look at him, rather confused. Cenobia snorted, "Again with this Mono?" Both Wanderer and Celosia shot a dirty look at him, angry enough with him already.

"The pale maiden...?" replied Valus, looking past his vast shoulder, "I have seen her wandering about the terrain...after my death..."

"You saw her? Where? Did Dormin kept Their promise or not?"

"Where Mono have gone to, we haven't a clue..." Valus replied again, "And whether if Dormin really kept Their promise is unknown. Wherever did you last saw her?"

"She was lying in the altar in the Shrine of Worship..." Wander quickly responded.

Cenobia blinked and looked at the central tower beside them...

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_The lion colossus ran as quickly as he could to the Shrine of Worship, panting heavily as his paws carried him across the lands. Once he had arrived at the entrance, he galloped up the stairs, feeling rather proud of himself. "You, Wanderer from the outside lands, keep coming from this place after each colossus you've murdered! Let's see if there's something in here that's been giving you immunity to our strength!"_

_It was silent within the shrine, not even the doves were startled by Cenobia's booming voice. He turned his maned head about wildly as he searched for answers, but his burning eyes slowly reverted to their calm blue color as they fell upon a ghostly form lying peacefully on the altar. Gently and quietly, he climbed up the small set of stairs, approached the structure and gazed upon a young, pallid maiden. Her eyes were closed and her brunette hair flowed gently with the wind. Six doves surrounded the area, barely leaving their spot even when the colossus stepped forward. Cenobia could only look upon the maiden in silence...until she manged to mumble something his ears he could not catch._

_A subtle noise sounded from behind. Cenobia turned away from the maiden to find the colossus slayer, Wander, lying unconscious on the cold pavement floor. Then, seven dark, humanoid shadows appeared and stood over him like looming ghosts. Next, light began to shine from one of the idols of the colossi. It was Hydrus' statue, Cenobia noticed before it suddenly exploded into pieces. The lion could only stare in horror of what just happened and dashed away outside the building before Wanderer could awaken to see him..._

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"We no longer saw her after Malus' death..." Valus said, causing Cenobia's mind to click back into the current situation, "If that is the case, Dormin must have kept Their promise..."

Wander was filled with overwhelming joy. Jumping off Celosia's back, he made an eager dash towards the shrine. "I must go meet with her!"

"Not so fast!" Cenobia snarled, leaping into the young warrior's way. "You still have to finish your redemption by repaying every colossus you have slain in the previous life!"

It was long climb up to reach Valus' hidden domain. The minotaur was able to reach it with ease and he wait for the others to catch up. Leap after leap, Celosia and Cenobia carefully made their way through the obstacles, jumping over gaps and climbing over fallen or shattered structures. The ledges were narrow so each careful step counted. When they finally made it to the top, Valus was no longer standing at the top ledge, but instead, was at the right end of the vast canyon...sleeping peacefully as gentle snores escaped his nose.

As the group made their way to the eastern end of the canyon, Cenobia was immediately annoyed. "Tell me we did not take that long to climb up here and only to find him snoring..." Cenobia growled as he marched up to the slumbering minotaur and pawed his right giant, ancient hand that rested on the handle of the stone hammer. "Valus, wake up! You still have the human to deal with."

"Cenobia, leave him alone!" Celosia snapped at him as Wander dismounted her back, "Valus is probably tired...and it's not wise to bother other sleeping colossi..."

Blue eyes appeared from the dark- faced complexion of the colossus, snorting gently as he awoke from the pawing of his hand. Slowly, he looked at his right to see Cenobia standing there, looking grouchy as ever. "Yes...?" Valus simply replied with a slurred voice.

Cenobia growled and reminded the other colossus, "The human...you were to deal with him?"

The minotaur looked away from the lion colossus and watched Wander walk up to him, waiting to be given a task. "Tell me, Wanderer...what do you see there?" Valus asked him, lifting his large, left index finger and pointed past the young warrior.

Wander spun to look at whatever it was that Valus was pointing to, finding a great mass of rocks at a distance in the same exact place where Valus had fallen after the last blow when the Ancient Sword's blade was forced into the sigil on his earthy skull. The young warrior walked up to it, taking a closer at the mass that was once the colossus' body. A hawk was perched upon what seemed like the remains that was once a stubby horn. The feathered raptor didn't fly way when Wander came up to the landmass, not even cast a real glance at him. The human remembered again that living beings could not see ghostly figures such as himself. And what seemed out of nowhere, Wander suddenly got lost in his memories...

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_The younger warrior watched the great creature walk past him, unware that his home was being invaded by a stranger from the outside lands. Wander followed the colossus when he reached the left side of the canyon, a flock of birds flying all around the immense creature. The human's footsteps padded the earth just loud enough to reach the colossus' ears. The beast slowly turned around to see a small creature on the ground and running up to him with a shining, long stone in hand. The minotaur had a strange feeling about this unwanted newcomer, and through instinct, he had the need to chase him out. _

_Eyes locked on each other, the giant took a step back and then thrusted his vast, stone hammer at the human. As the hammer came down, Wander rolled out of its way as it collided with earth, leaving a large hole on the ground. Lifting the hammer off the ground, the colossus looked at the ground and wondered where the small creature had disappeared to. He then started to feel a little tugging on the fur of his left leg and guessed it to be the human. The minotaur shook his leg about to make Wander fall off, but the human kept a good grip on his umber fur. _

_Once the left hoof settled on the earth, Wander took this opportunity to raise the Ancient Sword and stab it into the minotaur's leg. The immense creature roared in pain and shook his leg again. But another stab came again and the colossus dropped down his knees to rest, but Wander was still on him, climbing his way up his backside. _

_The giant rose back on his feet, twisting his back as roughly as he could when he felt Wander crawl up along his spine and onto his broad shoulders. The birds soared past his head, sreeching as the human carefuly made his way to the top of the colossus' skull and prepared to stab the glowing sigil that quickly appeared at the presence of the Ancient Sword. The minotaur jerked his head about as Wander held on for dear life. And once the beast settled for a brief moment, the human took the chance to stab the creature with the sword. Blood gushed out like a thin geyser as the colossus growled in agony and shook his head again. A couple more stabs came again and the minotaur almost fell to his knees, feeling the darkness closing in all around his vision. The final blow arrived and the immense giant went numb and began to tumble to the earth like a brittle tower, briefly watching a hawk soar past his fading eyes before his world went black..._

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Wander's mind returned quickly, his eyes shot open as he heard the hawk screech aloud and flew away, heading out of Valus' domain. In just a few seconds, the young warrior then realized that his head started to ache and his heart was pounding faster, but just briefly before he turned away from the rocky mass. _What have I done?_

Seeing that Wander was done "talking" to the pile of earth, the lion colossus looked to the minotaur. "Hey!" Cenobia yelled at him furiously, "Aren't you going to battle him or what?" But Valus was already in a deep sleep. The birds once again nestled down on his heavily thick fur, wings closed with heads tucked underneath soft feathers. "Valus!" the lion colossus growled at him once more, but the great giant was now immune to his blasting voice. He roared and growled and pawed the ground as fiercely as he could, but no reply came from the minotaur. Cenobia then gave up.

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**A/N:** Just to let you guys know, this was heavily inspired by Geal's _Above the Shadow_, a great fanfic which also featured the colossi talking. I don't how many SotC fic there are that came up the idea, but I wanted to do a fanfic like it, but with a different plot. Also, I tried coming up with different depictions of some colossus's personality from how Geal did. So any ideas you read in this fic that can be found in _Above the Shadow_, I give credit to him. All the rest are my own ideas and thoughts.

**Edit 3/5/08: There's a poll in my profile that you can choose which colossi you want to appear in my fanfic more often/have a large role. I can't guarantee that your choice will happen in the story, but you may never know!;)**


	3. Listen and Learn

Finally an update and it's pretty much as long as the previous chapter! If you think my paragraphs are kinda too wordy, let me know and I'll try to revise them a little better.Because honestly, I dislike how my writing looks like it goes on and on. XD Also, I'm kinda getting tried of calling the main character "Wanderer" every time now. XD So it'll be just "Wander" for now on, with exceptions to those who address him as "Wanderer" and such because theydon't know his "real" name yet. 

Thank you to those you have been reading and reviewing my story!

Enjoy!

**P.S. The poll for this fic is still open in my profile! Please vote!**

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Chapter Three

**Listen and Learn**

Wander, Celosia and Cenobia headed down the ledge of Valus's mountainous domain, leaving him in peace to rest comfortably. Cenobia was still agitated, his anger easily showed when he landed on the ground with a heavy force and growled at every lizard that crossed his path. Celosia sighed, not at all impressed with him as usual while Wander was doing his best to not even look at the lion colossus.

"Not even a battle to settle with him?" Cenobia said to himself, kicking a rock aside with the swipe of his right paw.

"Give it a rest!" Celosia called to him, "It is up to the other colossi to choose how they will deal with Wander, not you!"

Cenobia ignored her and continued grumbling to himself, "Maybe Quadratus has something better in mind..."

After they left the enterance gates of Valus's domain, they stopped at the fruit tree behind a small cliff on the plains that surrounded the Shrine of Worship. Celosia rested on the edge of the cliff as she watched Cenobia march about in small circles around the area, making sure Wander wouldn't run off. Without notice, he even stepped on the tails of several passing lizards, making them squirm about and flee, leaving their broken tail appendages behind.

Wander walked around the fruit tree he had once climbed in the previous life. With his bow and arrows, he could effortlessly shoot down the fruits from the branches. Its nutrients provided much health for him and it was very delicious, too; Agro even liked it. Circling the tree once more, he could have sworn there was someone hiding among the branches. Definately not a bird or lizard; it was far too large. And he saw colors ranging from dark umber to ivory hidden behind the earthly tones of the tree top.

An orange-colored fruit dropped down from a branch, landed on Wander's head, and fell to the ground without a crack. "Agh!" he yelped. _That must be really tough fruit. _He looked up for a moment to see if anyone was really hiding up there and called out, "Hello? Anyone there?"

"Sorry, my fault!" a voice called above from the tree top. It sounded young and feminine and as if the speaker hadn't reached an adolescent age yet. The leaves and branches shook as "person" climbed down lower, revealing to be a young, short girl with wavy brunette hair and an ivory and light umber dress. "I'm Shamira," the girl introduced herself before he could say anything. She jumped down from the branches, landed on her sandle-worn feet, and took a good look at Wander. "You look really hungry! After slaying the colossi and all..." She picked up the hard fruit and tossed it to Wander, who caught it his clumsy hands. "What's your name?"

Wander could only look at her surprise. He was for sure that there was no one else in the afterlife of the Forbbiden Lands, except for the "deceased" animals and colossi. "It's Wander," he finally replied, looking at the hard fruit in his hands before looking back at Shamira. "...How do you know I was the one slaying the colossi? You weren't around when I went after them."

"Oh, I was, Wander. You just didn't know," Shamira said with an innocent smile and fiddled with a long stand of her hair. Wander tried not to buy this. "So what'cha been doing, especially with your "victims"?

"Shamira, now is not the time!" Cenobia barked at the young girl as he marched up at her, "The Wanderer needs to finish up his tasks to redeem himself...or otherwise we'll kill him!" Celosia glared at her brother and shoved him by his left side as roughly as she could, making him topple over on his right side. Cenobia growled fiercely at her, warning her not to do that again.

"Redeem himself?" Shamira asked, "Who said so?"

"Avion, Dirge, and Quadratus said so," the lion colossus replied, "Because Wanderer had slain us in the previous life, they suggested that he should pay his debt by performing any task we colossi ask of! And I'm hoping the many of them would want a rematch in fighting him!"

Shamira seem to grimace at what Cenobia said before walking up to him and pat him on his stone muzzle. "Oh, Cenobia...it's always revenge with you," she said with a smile. "Can't you be more forgiving of others often?"

"You sound just like Avion..." Cenobia commented, not bothering to growl at her anymore. "We need to get the Wanderer to Quadratus at this moment. The sun is starting to head towards the west and he still has a long way to go before he is finished with his redemption to us!"

"Well, I still don't see revenge, even at the slightest form, to be a good idea, but fine. I'll see you around, my friends. I'm going to visit Barba," Shamira said cheerly before she dashed off into a run southward to the gorge that lead to the Southern Plains on the other side.

"Who was she?" Wander asked as he climbed onto Celosia's back. After meeting her, he had the feeling that he and the girl aren't the only humans in the afterlife. And not only that, it seemed as if she had been watching his every move since he had began his journey to bring back Mono.

"She was once a living residence of this land, before it became the Forbidden Lands," the tiger colossus replied as she and her brother headed toward Quadratus's home, "And she is the daughter of the woman who created Avion..."

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Quadratus stood by the lake located by his domain, his ponderous hooves were sinking slowly into the wet sand that were washed by the greeting waves of the cold water. He looked down upon his reflection in the rippling surface, peering closer to look at more of his details. Little calm, blue eyes glared back at him from a dark complexion, looking rather sullen. He saw his right horn broken, still in its damaged state, even in the afterlife. He wondered why it hadn't grown to become a full horn? Celosia and Cenobia had their armor shattered when they fought Wander, and after death their armor reappeared like new. Quadratus found it to be unfair, though he had pondered why. Maybe it was designed to be like that. Who knows? But the bull colossus began to feel shameful argueing with himself about unimportant matters, like a broken horn.

Quadratus sighed and looked away from his reflection, where he then caught sight of three other figures's reflections. Slightly startled, he looked down at his feet and saw Celosia, Cenobia and the Wanderer. "I see you all have arrive..."

"And we brought the nusinance, too!" Cenobia growled, glaring at Wander. In his mind, he prayed that the giant bull would at least make Wander stand still while being stepped on a giant hoof numerous times.

"Yes, Cenobia, I can see that..." the giant bull colossus replied, backing up a few heavy steps away from the shore and laid down on the sand with a heavy earthshake that rattled the walls of the canyon. His massive hooves that glowed light underneath were carefully rested on the ground as he sighed deeply. His eyes even went blank for a few seconds.

"What are you doing!" Cenobia yelled at Quadratus, dashing up to his great muzzle and pawed him wildly, "Fight him! Anything!"

Quadratus seemed unaffected by the smaller colossus's angry fits and just looked down at him from two calm, blue eyes. Cenobia gave up on him and walked away, growling to himself as the giant bull turned his massive, horned head to the small human standing at the left. "It seems like I can never acquire my right horn back...you know how that is, yes?" Quadratus asked Wander, who was taken by surprise.

"Urm...yeah, I guess...it's like I never be with my love again," Wander replied, walking right in front of the stone behemoth. A wonderous creature Quadratus was, even at rest. And he could feel the warm, soft gusts of breath that escaped from his hidden mouth with each word he spoke. "Aren't you going to attack me, like you should?"

"When I first saw you from behind the wall of my cave, I had a feeling you came around for a reason. I did not know what it was but you came here through your own free will. You were looking for a fight and I did what I could to give you one. But now, I feel no need to fight because you are not real threat anymore. You were told to come here and face me again...and it was not by free will. You tell me now, Wanderer, why would I want to fight you again?"

"I'm guessing you were angry at me for killing you and would want revenge because you didn't want to die so unexpectedly..." Wander replied as he sat down on the soft sand beside Quadratus's left hoof, "And probably every other colossi would like to fight me again as well..."

Quadratus coughed to himself gruffly before replying. "My death was not unexpected, nor were the others's since you had killed Valus. Your presence signaled a change that was to shift our fates from our punishment. I do not wish to fight now since there is no good reason to. You can bet some of the colossu would want to fight, but heed this; we are all dead to the previous life and fighting out of revenge will never help us return..."

Wander glanced away from Quadratus, admitting to himself that the giant bull was right. He sighed before looking back and said, "I don't get this afterlife deal. What is the point if you can live another life but can't be seen?"

"I understand what you mean, but I am not knowledgeable of this next life. Very strange what this state of being a spirit is. We could still interact with our enviornments, but never with living beings. Do wish you miss that?"

"A whole lot, really. I never knew that after killing the colossi, I would have to face death in the end. And now that I am dead to Mono, I can no longer protect her...she won't be able to see me anymore. And the rest of my family...I can't remember the last I saw them."

"Hmmm...at least they are probably alive and that is good to know. The rest of us have no loved ones to look after, except each other..."

"Hmph, colossi always stick together..." Wander said, sounding a bit grouchy. "Don't they?"

"It is how we manage to stay together. How else did your race manage to survive for so long ever since they were created?" Quadratus asked, which made Wander think a little more again. "You are a wise one to stop and listen, Wander, and I thank you for that. Now, onwards to Gaius, for he should be expecting you."

"What the task you were to assign me?" Wander asked as he stood up and dusted the sand off his clothes, "Valus just told me to looked over to the rock mass that was once his body, I remininced about our battle...and that was it. No duty given."

"You and I engaged in a conversation we both were able to keep alive and remembered the battle with Valus so you could learn something from it. Those were your first two tasks you have completed today! This task was diffcult indeed, for Cenobia never manages to catch at least one word when I try to speak to him..."

"Hmph!" Cenobia growled at the larger colossus and turned his head way stoutly. He'd have to admit, he never took joy sitting down for a miniute and talk away. He was built to be strong and wild and he was very proud to be so. And could he really be blamed for having such an impatient nature? Celosia would definately accuse him of such.

Wander gave Quadratus a small smile and a low bow, and the colossus bowed back in return. The young knight turned away but his eyes caught the earthly mass of Quadratus's fallen body. He walked up to it, seeing that lush vegetation had grew all over it as if it were there for thousands of years.

"A fallen body will become part of the land from which it had bared it," the giant bull said softly, "Do not believe you have slain us to bring back your loved one. Something that has past away might provide great benefits for those still alive..."

A hawk landed on the horn of Quadratus's fallen body in the previous life, a screech emitted from its sharp, curved beak. It looked over to a white doved flying down to rock mass and greeted it with a chirp. The dove fluffed up its feathers as it laid down on a nest of small eggs located on top of what was once Quadratus's left shoulder.

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Wander, Celosia and Cenobia headed up the ledge that lead the exit out of Quadratus's canyon and leave him peace. Cenobia was irritated at the fact that two colossi had let Wander off the hook from combat and, instead, gave him life lessons? Surely, he could bet on Gaius to deal with the human with the slam of his powerful tower sword of a right arm.

The group journeyed to the northern lands, into a dark and silent gorge and arrived at Gaius's dwelling. "We can't go any further. You'll have to go alone and confront Gaius on your own," Celosia said as she stopped before a vast lake, where a great temple stood at the center, suspending a wide, round platform from its top. It was slightly slanted to the left and near the edge to the right, Wander could see Gaius lying down.

Wander dismounted off Celosia's back, walked to the edge of the lake and stop there for a moment. "This doesn't make since...why can't you come?" he finally asked after a bit of thinking.

"Are you blind? Gaius's temple is surrounded by water. The bridge to get there is halfway submerged underwater and is far too brittle for Celosia and I to walk on it. And even if was strong enough to hold us, how would we reach it? The water's too deep and we can't swim!"

"When you two chased me from the Shrine to Quadratus's canyon, I saw Gaius along with the rest of the other colossi _outside _their domains. If Gaius is on top of that temple right now, how could he have gotten down from there before?"

Cenobia and Celosia exchanged looks for a moment, giving Wander's question a good thought. Most of the colossi looked physically trapped in their domains, unable to even carve out an exit of their own. But possible ways do exist, but should never be spoken of to anyone but the colossi themselves.

Cenobia finally looked away from his sister and growled, "You're a curious, little human, aren't you?" Wander scowled at him, but the lion colossus ignored it and gave the young warrior a rough push into the lake with a splash. "Now get going! Gaius is probably sleeping by now!"

Fustrated, Wander began swimming towards the structure, shivering from the water's temperature along the way. This Cenobia was starting to get on his nerves, for he thought this colossus's unchained rage to ram pillars and towers was bad enough. And he didn't get his question answered. 

"And don't even think about running away!" Cenobia warned him as loudly as he could, which earned the lion a smack on the face by Celosia's paw.

It took Wander quite a while to reach the top of the bridge and jump onto the massive temple. He fell a couple times into the cold lake, drenching himself in freezing water. He would have never thought that most bodies of water were frigid in the afterlife. To his left he headed up a stair case and climbed onto the platform, griping the grass with his hands before standing back up. At the other end of the platfrom laid Gaius in the form of a mess of towering, intricate stones. He looked like a building that had crumbled apart and have been neglected over time. Gaius was indeed asleep and was ever so comfortable in his spot. The first time Wander encountered the colossus, the behemoth abruptly awoke from his sleep once he had set foot on the temple.

Wander slowly walked up to the sleeping giant, careful to not awaken him like before. The knight colossus did not stir when the human approached him closer and stood standing right next to his right shoulder. Still hadn't awakened, Wander climbed onto Gaius's slate-colored fur on his shoulder and sat on his neck, hiding behind the stone, spiked collar the giant wore. A long neck he had for a humanoid colossus...and it began to crane foward, in Wander's direction. His eyes were dark, like endless pits for a moment, but slowly, faint blue dots began to grow larger, signifying that Gaius had awaken.

Gaius rose his head to see what was that light pressure on the base of his neck, and he found the human to be sitting on the spot from behind the gaps of the spikes of his collar. Not a word escaped Gaius mouth for a moment, allowing awkward silence to creep between the colossus and the human. "Who are you...?" the giant finally asked in a slurred voice. His vision was cloudy at the moment, so he couldn't tell who Wander was yet.

Wander was hesitant to reply. He bit his lower lip nevously and tried to look away for a moment, but he could never escape Gaius's stare. "I'm Wander, the warrior who is to visit you and perform whatever task it is that you wish so that I may redeem myself..."

"Redeem?" the colossus asked, puzzled in the least. "Why must you, Wander, redeem yourself by coming to me, Gaius, and ask for a task?"

"Have you forgotten already? Avion suggested that I must do so since I have killed you all in the previous life."

It was then that Gaius suddenly remembered, seeing a flash of memories in his mind when Wander invaded his home, wielding a shining stone made of metal, and slayed him without mercy. The giant knight abruptly sat up, causing Wander to fall off and hurl straight down on his backside into the ground. "You were the ONE who slayed me! Shouldn't be running away from us by now? Surely, you dislike us more than enough! Why would you be doing us favors anyway!" he bellowed, his eyes turning into a bright orange shade with fury.

Wander tried to respond, but the impact onto the hard surface of the platfrom struck him hard enough to make him black out for a short moment. Pain traveled all along his nearly fractured spine as he tried moving in vain. _Is it possible to die in the afterlife?_ he thought to himself as he closed his exhasted eyes.

Gaius remained quiet for a moment, looking down at the much younger knight and wondering if that fall actually killed him. His burning eyes reverted to their calm blue state as he peered closer at Wander. The human didn't seem to move at all. Gaius reached down to the small being with his left "hand" and touched Wander's arm with a blocky finger. Still hadn't move. Carefully, the giant brought Wander into the palm of his great hand. "Wander...?" he said softly, sounding concern...and much to the surprise of himself.

A groaned escaped as eyelids tried to flicker open. "At first I didn't want to, but I had no choice..." Wander finally managed to say before sitting up after strength slowly found its way back to him. "I ran when you and the colossi chased me into Quadratus's canyon and I was given a second chance by Avion. I have to make atonement for the things I have done to you and that's what I am going to do. No matter what I must perform, I do it. And even when you refuse, I will insist..."

"I am only the third colossus you have visited today and already you have learned much..." Gaius commented before sitting down and gently setting Wander down his knee, "I have no challenging duties in mind for you to perform. Suppose just talking will do for a task?" 

Wander shrugged and nodded. For a time, he told the knight colossus about Mono, his adventures through the Forbidded Lands, and what the world looked like beyond it. Gaius, intrigued by the human's stories, listened carefully and patiently. It had been decades since he had heard such exciting stories and tales. In return, the colossus told his visitor of the time when he was free to go wherever he wished and a time when there were more colossi roaming about. When there were more who looked like himself, save for the various, distinguishing characteristics most of them had, and how he was the "bravest" of them all.

Wander had no idea that the colossi actually had real lives that they lived long before he was born. Questions flooded his mind, but which to ask? Gaius had asked many questions moments ago, including one asking what was an Agro? "Why and how were the colossi created? Who created each one?" the young warrior asked.

"Let us see here..." Gaius thought for a moment, gathering up his memories to tell the story. "This region of which we reside at this very moment was once far more vast than it is now. The humans that have lived here centuries ago and build great settlements across the land, including the great bridge that was linked from the enterance of this world to the doors of the Shrine of Worship. With much more of the terrain untouched, the humans thought they should share their home with another intelligent race, a race crafted by the most determined artisans ever...and thus, the birth of colossi took place. Each individual constructed just one colossi, and with the help of fellow humans, they gave heart and soul to one of the largest creations on this world. Over the course of ten years or more, as I remember, I think there were more than a hundred colossi alive. The colossi and their creators shared a strong bond with one another, and no force could ever break such a relationship..."

"Wow, I should have listened more to that old man back at my village..." Wander said, wondering what it was liking walking side by side with a colossus. He could even recall that he had heard that his grandfather had a colossus of his own. "Who was your creator?"

The colossus stayed silent, trying to summon up the answer. "His name was Chevalier..."

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_The young girl looked up at the towering, lanky, living statue before her in both fear and awe. The creature seemed as if his body alone could block out the sunlight. The girl kept on staring at the giant, curiousity grew inside her about what this creature is that her father was introducing her to._

_The giant looked back down at the smaller being at his feet, for he too was curious about this human girl his creator had introduced him to. She was the smallest human he has ever seen; she looked so fragile. Blue eyes peered down at the girl, tilting his spiked head to the right._

_Terrified, the little girl doved back into her father's safe arms and tried to make sure that "monster" could not see her. "I'm scared!" she whimpered to her father._

_"Come now, Kemena. He won't hurt you," her father, Chevalier, said with an encouraging voice. He knew she was frightened, but he knew deep inside that her fear of the colossus will soon disappear. "Here now, his name is Gaius," he said as he took his daughter from his arms and turned her around to face the behemoth. "Gaius, this is my daughter, Kemena."_

_Gaius kept on looking straight at Kemena until he suddenly knelt down onto the grass, carefully placing down his tower-sized sword and bending over to come face-to-face with Kemena. "Hello...Kemena," he spoke with a deep, echoing voice._

_Kemena ran back to her father with a frightful scream. "NO! He's scary, father!" She gripped her father's woolen vest, making sure he won't be able to pry her hands free from him._

_Feeling that he had upset the his creator's offspring, Gaius tried comforting her as brought his left, stone hand and very carefully touched her shoulder. Kemena seemed to flinch at his touch and dared not to look back at the colossus. Gaius withdrew his hand and peered closer at the young human. He looked around for a moment before a feild of flowers caught his attention. Bringing his left hand to it, he picked out a small, yellow flower was held between his blocky fingers and brought it to Kemena, offering it to her as an apology for frightening her._

_The young girl then worked up the courage to look back at Gaius when she saw the flower the giant was giving her. She nervously took it and smiled at him, feeling no reason to fear this being. _

_"Always remember, Kemena, do not judge others upon their appearances and their acts alone. Strive to discover what makes them who they are and judge carefully from there..."_

_Kemena reached out and touched Gaius's immense hand and gazed up at his blue eyes, "Hello...Gaius..."_

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"...Gaius?" said a voice that abruptly clicked the giant's mind back to reality. Gaius shook his head lightly as he regain awareness and saw Wander looking up at him, puzzled. "So whatever happened to the other colossi that used to live here?" Wander asked him.

Gaius kept quiet for a moment, taken slightly aback. Once again, he took another journey into the depths of his memories, but this time it was a more on the grimly aspect of his past. The images kept flashing his mind as if he was experiencing the events all over again. _Blood...pain...hate...never to be forgotten..._he whispered in his head. Those screams from his remaining fellow colossi; he could never escape them. Once the images were through, Gaius slowly looked down at Wander, remembering his question. "I cannot bear to tell anymore, Wander...it is too much for me to speak of for now. Perhaps the other colossi will tell you, for some are not as light-hearted as I..."

"Horrible past?" Wander asked the giant knight, who responded with a slow nod. "I can understand how that is...no can live completely peaceful lives."

"It is always been a part of life...never forget that. Bad things happen often when you forget about them," Gaius then laid down on the platform to rest his head, deep in thought before his blue eyes faded away into darkness. "Never to be forgotten...ever..." he murmured before slowly falling asleep. 

Wander looked at him for moment, jumped off the colossus's knee, and as quietly as he could, left the giant knight in peace and headed down the platform. "Goodbye for now..." he whispered.

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**A/N: **Gaius's personality was inspired by the Iron Giant from the movie of the same name. Just wanted to let you guys know.:)

Disclaimer: I do not own_ Shadow of the Colossus_. I own the OC Shamira and others not mentioned in the game, though.


	4. Warmth

Finally an update! Sorry it took over a month to update! I'll try not to make you guys wait so long next time. Chapter 5 is almost halfway done and it'll take some time, but if I'm quick enough I'll have it posted by Friday May 9th. :) Also, sorry this story doesn't have a lot of action yet, but we'll get there.

Thanks for reading and reviewing, guys! Hope you enjoy this chapter!:)

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**Chapter Four**

**Warmth**

After Wander descended from Gaius' temple and headed to shore to meet with Celosia and Cenobia, he told them of his visit to the knight colossus. Glad to know that things went alright between the two, Celosia smiled from behind her masked face while Cenobia growled once again in frustration. Afterward, they continued their long trip to their next destination; Phaedra's domain.

"Ugh! Are they just going to lecture him?! What good will that do?!" Cenobia complained for the hundredth time as they entered the foggy gorge that lead to Phaedra's dwelling. His yells echoed through the dark walls.

"For heaven's sake, Cenobia! Leave it be! It is not your turn on how to "punish" Wander!" Celosia snapped at her brother, annoyed of how unbelievably selfish he is.

Cenobia growled stubbornly at her and looked away, keeping his beliefs strong. _I hope Phaedra will be willing to fight the Wanderer. He's a war horse colossus for heaven's sake!_

Through the cave they entered a vast, hidden area with scattered trees and four hills at the center surrounded by a wall of earth with a forest growing along the borders and beyond. Far north into the area where mists are most thick, Phaedra's faint form could be seen. The group carried on along the curving slope of a cliff and set foot on their fellow colossus' land. Quietly, they walked up to the sleeping war horse, expecting him to awake without a heavy disturbance.

A light blue glow emerged from each of the dark eye sockets of the war horse as his head craned down a bit to look at the smaller beings. "It appears...that I have intruders in my domain. Who might they be...?" he asked lazily in a grumbling tone, barely moving an inch.

"The Wanderer is here to pay his debt to you...remember?" Cenobia growled as he pushed Wander up to Phaedra, making the large gap between the two shrink to only ten feet apart.

Wander stumbled a bit as he tried to fix his stance, intimidated by the angered colossus before him. Agro wasn't around to accompany him this time, so he felt a little discouraged.

"The Wanderer?! The Colossus Slayer?!" The great horse colossus arose upon his stilt-like stone legs, growling with eyes burning red as he walked up to Wander. "Get out!!" he bellowed, wide awake as he rose up upon his hind legs. With his fore legs in the air above Wander, he brought them back down to the earth to send a great earth shake across the area, making the smaller colossi and the human stumble over as a result.

"Wander, run!" Celosia directed the human once he got to his feet, giving him a push with her muzzle. "And do not hide in the underground passages! Get to the slope!"

Wander made a run for it as Celosia said as Phaedra began marching towards him, causing the earth to shake vigorously. He had no idea what he did, nor if he did anything at all yet. If Phaedra wanted him out, then Wander would have guessed that the colossus had been sleep-walking throughout the whole meeting at Quadratus' canyon, or thought the meeting was a pointless dream.

"Did you not listen to what Avion said, you bloody creature!" Cenobia blasted from his muzzle as he fled from Phaedra, "You're suppose to give him a job! Not kill him...despite the fact that I want to kill him as well..." Cenobia mumbled the last part to himself. He followed Wander, running at his side when the human was at the heart of the four hills. "Hide in the passage ahead of you! I'll handle Phaedra!"

But Wander was hesitant of Cenobia's order. He trusted her more than him. "But Celosia said--"

"Forget what she said!" Cenobia cut him off, "Listen to me and hide in that hill!"

With a change of plan,Wander followed the lion colossus' direction. He jumped off the edge of the southern hill and climbed into the passage to hide.

"Cenobia, no!" Celosia called out to her brother, but she was too late. She knew Phaedra wasn't foolish enough to fall for the same trick twice.

The lion skidded to a stop at the edge of the hill, trying to look brave and prideful. "Hey, Phaedra! Over here!" Cenobia yelled at the attacking creature, getting his attention. Once he saw the war horse glare at him, Cenobia jumped off the edge of the hill and dived into the passage, but he could only get his body halfway in. "What? Get me out!!" Cenobia growled fiercely as he struggled to pull himself out of the underground passage, but his protruding armor got stuck upon the ceiling of the narrow enclosure. He looked at Wander, who stood there watching him. "What are you looking at?! Help me!"

Without a second to waste, Wander rushed up to Cenobia's muzzle, grabbed onto two of the stone "teeth" that pointed upward and pulled as hard as he could, but the lion colossus wouldn't budge. "You're stuck, Cenobia! You can't fit through!"

Phaedra walked into the area of where the four hills resided as quickly as he could with each ponderous step. He headed to the hill farthest away from him where Wander and Cenobia had disappeared to and walked around it so he could see its underground passage. But instead, only Cenobia's hindquarters stuck out and leaving the rest of his body to clog up the passage into the hill. "Cenobia," Phaedra spoke calmly, a hit of fury hidden within his gruff voice, "You've let yourself go!" The war horse raised his right, front leg as high as he could and smashed the ground with a crackling, thunderous earth shake, just behind Cenobia.

The lion colossus could have sworn that Phaedra's thin leg had almost pinned his flexible, stone tail. "Hurry up!!" Cenobia snapped at Wander.

"Stop yelling!" Wander snapped back, tugging Cenobia as hard as he could until he finally managed to pull in the colossus and get him to safety, or so they thought.

"Phaedra, stop!" Celosia roared as loud as could to the taller colossus before her, stomping her paws on the ground to show that she was not about to move from her spot. Phaedra heard her call and halted to a stop, craning his head downward to look at Celosia. "Don't you harm my brother and Wander!!" the tiger colossus growled fiercely at him.

"Oh, do not worry, Celosia. I will not bring pain upon Cenobia. And I will not be harming the Wanderer...the ground WILL when I crush it upon HIM!!" Phaedra roared as he reared up onto his hind legs, raising his front legs in the air for a moment before bringing them down to collide with the earth and send out a wave of titanic force upon the ground and ear-splitting sound into the air.

The underground passage began to crumble underneath Phaedra's ponderous rampage as Wander and Cenobia tried to make their way through the tunnels. Piles of dirt and cracked stones blocked the their path and forced them to dig their way out. Phaedra repeated his method again, covering them in the earthy material.

"STOP IT!!" Celosia roared as loudly as she could, almost shattering Phaedra's eardrums and making him halt his pounding. The tiger colossus glared warningly at him before noticing Wander and Cenobia emerging from behind the hill behind Phaedra, both smudged with dirt.

"Suppose what do you want me do to with him?!" Phaedra snapped loudly, "He is useless to me! I don't want him here!"

"Fight him! Fight him!" Cenobia barked loudly as he rised up his forequarters and pounded his front feet on the ground.

Phaedra craned his head around to look down at the obnoxious colossus and the exhausted human, his eyes piercing their stare. "Where ish your sword, Wanderer?" Phaedra sneered at the young knight.

"I do not have it anymore," Wander replied, standing his ground and looking at the angered colossus in the eye. "It's been lost since I have died in the earthly life."

"Well, isn't that sad? If you have no weapons upon yourself, then I have no need to fight you. Fighting a defenseless, weak human will be a waste of time and I'm far too slow-moving to fight right now anyway," Phaedra snarled at the young warrior, gusts of breath pouring from his nostrils. "Why do me a favor, again?"

"I must perform whatever duty you give me and I do not care what it shall be! It will done! This is the only way how I may redeem myself for killing the colossi. Avion's orders, yes?"

"That fowl of a colossus is always trying to find ways to convince the other colossi that second chances should always be given. And she simply thinks that she is in charge of us colossi, just like that blasted Malus! What good will doing tasks for us to redeem yourself do? You and us are dead! You'll wither away soon like the others before us! Regretful and forgotten! But if you must waste your time doing pointless tasks, then fine!" Phaedra snorted loudly, pounding his front, pointed right leg onto the earth to show his aggression. "I'll tell you what, Wanderer, for a task go find yourself a decent stabbing stick, come on back here, and I will fight you again. And when that time comes, it will be a fight to the death...and I will not be so foolish like before. Now leave! I do not wish to be disturbed now!" Phaedra rose up and turned away stoutly, beginning to march away towards his sleeping quarters.

"You have been disturbed ever since Archippos was killed, which was YEARS ago! And you never returned ever since!" Celosia snapped fiercely at Phaedra, "What is your reason to sob like a child and remain in your domain to cage yourself from the rest of the world?!"

Crimson light flashed in his ancient eyes at the tiger's remark. Phaedra stopped in his tracks and froze for a moment before craning his head around to glare at Celosia with his burning, red eyes. He turned his massive body around, crouched down as low as he could and looked at the tiger colossus straight in the eye, face-to-face. "My reasons to never returned to the state I once was is not of any of your concern, Celosia. It is mine to keep to myself and I will NEVER share. Now get OUT," Phaedra hissed at her, waiting for her response.

Celosia glared at him warningly at the massive, equine colossus before turning her back to him, heading out the exit with Wander and Cenobia. Her pounding footsteps marked her indignation toward the arrogant colossus, muttering angry comments in her mind. Cenobia didn't want to bother taunting his sister at the moment, clearly knowing that messing with a frustrated Celosia is never a smart thing. But the lion statue sneered at the fact that at least one colossus so far was willing to fight Wander again. He couldn't wait to see it happen.

Wander took one more look at Phaedra, who's fiery eyes glared down at him from above, before turning away and following the two feline colossi to the exit of the war horse's home. _The next we fight, Phaedra, I will be fair...and I will win again_, he thought to himself as he, Celosia, and Cenobia disappeared into the cave.

When the group departed out of his dwelling, Phaedra's eyes became a faint blue color as he turned away from the exit of his home and sighed deeply. At the center of the four hills, he carefully laid down on his right side, causing the earth to shake mildly as he did so, and rested his head on the hill nearest to his stone platform at the end of his domain. He wasn't sure he was doing this...something else told him to. Something that ached him deep inside...

_You have been disturbed since Archippos was killed..._

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Since the group have left Phaedra's domain, neither of them spoke a word to one another. Celosia was still frustrated with Phaedra's attitude, Cenobia was chuckling to himself while imagining the aftermath of the next fight between Wander and the war horse, and Wander himself thought on how will he be able to find a sword. He couldn't think of anything where the Ancient Sword could have disappeared to and had no idea where to find another weapon in the afterlife.

The group traveled along the moutainside and into a valley where the river greeted the earthly walls. Farther, they ventured into a gorge that lead to a small body of water and a wide gate towering over it. It was obviously colder here than it was outside, since the sun's light were usually blocked out by the blanket of thick, desaturated clouds overhead. And barely anything else lived here, except for a few fish in the lake.

"Avion, we've brought Wander here..." Celosia called out to the resident of the ancient city, waiting patiently for her to show up.

The large phoenix colossus soared overhead, disturbing the quiet composure of the atmosphere with each wing beat. She gracefully landed before the group, flapping her great, stone wings slowly as her talons rested on the earth and her long tail submerged in the deep pond behind her. "Thank you, Celosia. So Wander..." Avion began, her blue eyes looking down at the human, "How were your first four tasks with the colossi? Exhausting?"

"Well, not exactly exhausting how I thought it would be," Wander started, "Valus had me remember our first battle against each other, Quadratus told me about not fighting and Gaius told me how the colossi came to be."

"And Colossus Phaedra?" Avion added questionly, expecting something negative about the war horse colossus.

The young knight seemed to fidget a bit, hesitant of what to say. "He didn't really want me around...and for a task, he wanted me to find a decent weapon and fight him again soon after I acquire one."

Avion screeched mildly to herself and threw her head back abruptly, spreading her stone wings through her frustration with the typical nature of Phaedra. "What nerve, that old gruff of a colossus! I shall have a word with him soon!"

"Is he always like that?" Wander asked her, knowing that she'd have the knowledge to every information of each colossus. "You know, grouchy?"

"...No, not always...and we cannot keep blaming him for his negative changes," Avion replied as calmly as she could, lowering her wings to rest, "We all have grief."

"Have all the colossi changed since whatever event that shifted your lives? What happened?""

"Lord Otaktay happened...and our lives changed forever," Avion began dubiously, "He was a ruthless shaman, unforgiving and murderous to any who stood against him. Otaktay destroyed our nation, our people, our family...and we had no choice but to move on. Some of the colossi have changed, some haven't. But all of us were traumatized, nonetheless. Phaedra didn't like changes, and he was even afraid of it. Therefor, his unwillingness to accept our altering lives cost him his spirit to continue living how he used to."

Wander began to consider whether he should keep somewhat a grudge towards Phaedra or not. He didn't like changes at all neither, so what that horse gargoyle any different from himself?

"But let's not consume time about speaking of our past. You need to make atonement for what you've done in _your_ past..."

"Are you going to start a conversation with me or fight instead, like how Cenobia would want?" Wander asked sullenly, making the lion colossus glare at him warningly and preparing to pounce him to crush his bones.

"At first, yes and only because I thought you were only going to slay us to gain the title "Colossus Slayer" and be shrouded in riches for bringing back our detached heads to your village. But I see now that you have a good reason and I shall let my hate fade. And you've had enough chatting for now, and again, fighting is not the answer. I have a different task in mind for you. Climb onto my back and I will show you." Avion lowered down a bit so it would be easier for the human to climb up.

Wander walked up to her right wing shoulder, grabbed the fur-like grass and held a good grip as he ascended onto the phoenix's back. Surely this time's flight would be a more mild ride around the area, unlike their first battle against one another. The weather here was the worst he ever experienced, and the climate still remained harsh in the afterlife. Wander had never felt so cold in his life.

With the young human, Avion flew over the gate to one of the old structures that towered above the misty lake, resting her talons on to it and allowing Wander to slide off her back. Her beak pointed over to a withering bush that harbored a nest made of twigs and leaves, containing three eggs inside. "See that nest? The mother has left to find food but the eggs are unattended by no one. Someone has to warm them."

Wander cocked an eyebrow at the nest. "But these nests are not in the afterlife..." Wander pointed out, surely to know that Avion was aware of such.

"Yes, I know. But the life they contain inside their shell will die by lack of warmth. My home is far too cold for other creatures to reside in, but birds still insist on laying their eggs here. To keep that from happening, we must keep them warm by giving warmth. Using fire and placing it next to the next will keep the eggs in health until the mother arrives. Set the fire an inch too far from them, or the eggs will die of cold. Set the fire too close to them, and the eggs will boil to death."

Wander gave her a doubtful look, which didn't surprised her that much. One mistake and the life within the shells of white will die and his atonement will remain unfinished. "I don't see how "dead" fire is supposed to warm something that is alive."

"Difficult and confusing, and I understand," Avion gave him a nod, "Even if we are deceased that doesn't mean we can't really interact with those of the earthly realm. Our worlds are connected, even if there are barriers. Do you understand what I'm saying? How about it?"

Wander looked at her for a moment before sighing, pulling two twigs from the bush with one in each hand and putting them together in a crisscross. "I still think it's absurd, but whatever you say..."

Minutes have past and Wander was still having trouble kindling the fire. The heartless wind kept on putting out the flames of the torches, much to the young warrior's irritation. "Blasted wind!" he muttered to himself, rubbing two twigs against each other and praying for a spark. Avion patiently watched him struggle diligently, standing over him to be a shield against the blowing winds. Once a tiny a flame grew, Wander almost cried with joy. Carefully, he settled a calm and blazing torch next to the first nest, making sure that the wind didn't go evil and kill off the fire. After that, two dozen more nests were awaiting him to bring the warmth. It was the toughest ordeal Wander had ever experienced, with the exception of the colossi battles in the previous life, and he was sure he would feel all the bone-crushing pain by tomorrow. He tried carrying some of the fire over to the next nest, but each time he did, whether it's walking over a nearby clutch of eggs or riding on Avion's back to reach the next building, the flames would go out with a wisp of smoke.

Over an hour had past and Wander was now down to the final clutch of eggs. Sitting on the stone surface with his legs crisscrossed, he rubbed another pair of twigs to get one last fire started. Several minutes flew by and a blaze arose. With much pride, Wander carefully set down the fire next to the eggs. "That's the last one..." Wander sighed deeply, falling on his back on the stone surface. Each breath he took, a puff of warm fog escaped his mouth and disappeared into the frigid air.

Avion inspected every nest the human visited, making sure the torches that incubated the eggs were at a perfect distance. Smiling to herself, she was satisfied with his labor. "You did very well, Wander..." Avion looked down at the human, "Your debt to me has been paid and you are free to go." She bent down for Wander to climb on her back and carry him back to the enterance of the phoenix's dwelling.

"Is that it?" Wander asked as Avion took flight, not thinking that he had already spent enough time here. Merely, he's asking for more work and is likely unaware of it. "I'm finally finished?"

"Well, if you wish to clean the birds' "leftovers" off of the buildings of my home, I can give you the job," she offered as she landed before Celosia and the impatient Cenobia.

"No!" Wander answered hastily, "No. I think I've done enough, thank you." Making fire for the eggs were back-breaking as it was, cleaning bird droppings would be a whole other story.

"Very well, then," Avion chuckled mildly at the young human as he slid off her back to meet with Cenobia and Celosia. "Nightfall is near so make haste to Barba's home, for you know what to do, and rest there until sunrise," Avion instructed the group as she looked beyond her domain and at the open fields just outside. "Staying out in the darkness can prove to be regretful. And I hope your upcoming tasks, Wander, will be easy to overcome."

"Thank you, Avion," Wander courteously said to the Delta Phoenix, giving her a low bow before turning away to Celosia.

"Farewell, Avion," Celosia politely bowed to the phoenix colossus while Wander mount her backside. Avion bowed back in return.

"Hmph, let's go!" Cenobia grumbled as he turned about rudely and, marched away towards exiting gorge, leading Wander and Celosia out of the domain. "Already wasted my time here," he mumbled the rest to himself so Avion wouldn't hear.

Avion casted a wary glance at Cenobia, hoping he would have a change of heart soon or otherwise Wander will not be able to survive the next few days with the lion colossus pushing and growling at him like that. The phoenix colossus watched them go before turning her head to look at the eggs in a nearby nest. One bird flew in from the sky and nestled on the eggs, fluffing her feathers as if it suddenly got warmer all of a sudden. The twilight was now rising, and due to the torches around her domain, the overall atmosphere felt so mysterious, peaceful...and alive.

A/N: This chapter was originally titled as _Flight_, for it was pretty much about Avion. But I felt that I had to give Phaedra a little bigger part than he originally had, so the title changed. Also, this chapter was give a little more action (or upcoming action) between Wander and Phaedra.

Disclaimer: I do not own Shadow of the Colossus. I only own the OCs not mentioned in the game.


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